Steps to consider to start and grow a company. Basics are provided to help entrepreneurs. Examples may relate to Biotech, Pharma and Medical Device businesses, but the ideas apply to most technology fields.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Oh No, We Just Lost John!

It never fails.Every
perfect situation has a downside and it usually shows up at the most inopportune
times.Loosing key employees is one of
these events that can really set your programs back or worse.You can try to guard against this, but it is
inevitable that when an employee is ready to leave, they GO.

It is like having a facility with key equipment and the operations
are running smoothly.A piece of
equipment breaks and you call the repairperson.Then wait, and wait, and wait!The operations are at a standstill because nothing can take place due to
the outage of the key equipment.Once
repaired, the processing can resume and eventually it gets back to normal.

Losing a key person in your company is manageable but this depends
on you and the remaining team.It also
depends on how much overlap you had in the team functions.Sometimes, the loss is a person where there
is no overlap and the team was not involved in the related activities.This can cause a shutdown of parts of your
program and missing milestones in your timelines.

There are activities you can consider that may prevent maximal
downside from the loss of an important team member.Here are just a few:

Overlap
Functions: To the extent possible, having other members of the team involved
in every aspect of the business may allow someone to step in the role of the
missing member.The individual assuming
the new responsibility may have a learning curve but that is much better than
starting with no background or knowledge of the duties and functions left
behind.

Hire an
Experienced Consultant:It is
possible to find people that have relevant experiences and retain them in a
consultant capacity.You may even be
able to transition them to a permanent position, but your immediate need of
bring the job up to normal speed will be quicker with an experienced person.The learning curve will mostly be figuring where
you were at the time of departure of the key employee. Things will proceed smoothly
once the background is learned.

Hire Over-lapping
Consultants:Sometimes, the job is
such that it may take more than one person to fill the knowledge gap left
behind.Retaining more than one
consultant can fill the gaps and the needs in house will center on coordination
of their efforts.One of the in house
project managers may be able to manage the process and lead the effort.

YOU DO IT:It is not as if you do not already have too
much to do.One of the best ways to
manage your small startup is to understand and participate with each of the activities
in the company and know where the team is at all times.When you lose someone, if all else fails, you
can take the lead to maintain the activity until a new hire fill the role.This way, you can also provide the history of
activities to the new hire and help them get up to speed efficiently.

It is important to be involved with your team and fully understand
their activities. Try to be aware of
sighs suggesting you may be losing people can cause serious setbacks.In doing so, you can guard against the losses
and plan for such events.